Nerlens Noel looked comfortable on the Chesapeake Energy Arena hardwood Friday morning, going through a series of individual shooting and low-post drills as the 76ers wrapped up their shoot-around in preparation for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The second-year forward has been sidelined the last two games with soreness in his left and right wrists, but appears on track to return against Oklahoma City.
“Nah, no limitations at all,” said Noel, when asked about his status for the first contest of the Sixers’ quick road trip, which concludes Saturday in San Antonio. “Wrists feel a lot better. I’m feeling good. The training staff is great here.”
A week ago last Friday, Noel hurt both wrists during a hard fall at Quicken Loans Arena against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not only did he manage to finish the game, but he put up arguably his best showing of the season, recording 18 points, 12 rebounds, five steals, and two blocks. The next day, in a home meeting with the Orlando Magic, was when it seemed like Noel was bothered. Since then, he’s been monitoring his wrists, and maintenancing the injury “around the clock,” in hopes of quickly regaining the form he’d been displaying through the opening two weeks of season.
“I think I was playing decently well,” Noel said. Despite missing time, he still ranks 10th in the NBA with a 9.7 rebound average.
“I think I was focused on the things I need to work on better. These last few days of not even playing, I had to work on it. It’s been a good few days to have my mindset on what I need to improve on these next couple games coming back and building on the first six [games].”
While stuck on the bench in civvies Monday and Wednesday, Noel kept tabs on one particular aspect of the Sixers. Defense.
“Sitting down and seeing it, now I’m coming in with a mindset to help this defense a little more, actually seeing it from [Brett Brown’s] point of view,” explained Noel. “Trying to help these guys get more of an edge defensively, and playing a little more chippy, and wanting to protect the basket and be a top 10 defense this year.”
Certainly, Oklahoma City will present the Sixers with one of their stiffer challenges this season. The Thunder entered the weekend boasting the second-best offensive rating in the NBA, while playing at the sixth-fastest pace of any team in the league. They also top all clubs with a collective 40.5 three-point shooting percentage.
There’s also this noteworthy luxury that Oklahoma City holds: without four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant, who’s on the shelf with a left hamstring strain, the team can call upon another scoring title winner, Russell Westbrook, to assume increased responsibilities. He proved himself capable of that task last season. With Durant out for 55 games, Westbrook stepped up, and produced a league-best 28.1 points per game.
“I think you’re going to expect him to do historically what he has done, and be even more aggressive offensively,” said Brown about how he believes Westbrook will approach things in Durant’s absence.
Brown added, “It’s always [Westbrook’s] baseline to baseline speed. The first three seconds of the shot-clock, where you see a heightened awareness. It’s got to be done with a team mentality. He’s got to see a crowd. And so he puts immediate pressure on your defense, especially in that early phase of the clock. And then he does it with this competitive face. The K.G. [Kevin Garnett] face, the Kobe [Bryant] face, the Russell Westbrook face, where he’s just so highly competitive.”
And highly versatile. So far this season, Westbrook is sixth in the NBA with 25.8 points per game. Looking deeper into his offensive numbers, the four-time All-Star sits fourth in the league with an average of 7.8 drive points per game, which accounts for points generated from drives to the rim (he’s sixth in the NBA with about 10.5 drives to the basket per game). Furthermore, Westbrook is third with 9.0 pull-up points per game, defined as points scored on jumpshots made from distances greater than 10 feet from the bucket, and that were preceded by at least one dribble.
Westbrook not only scores for himself, he creates chances for others. Granted, one of his running mates is Durant. Nonetheless, Westbrook is a proven facilitator. He leads the NBA with averages of 10.9 assists per game, and 25.3 points per game created from assists. His 1.8 secondary assists per game are sixth in the league.
“I think we’re going to have to do a great job of keeping Westbrook out of the lane,” said Noel. “All of the dribble penetration. Westbrook’s a tough guy. He’s going to score in a lot of different ways, so we’re just going to have to be on the same page.”
In the Thunder’s 123-118 overtime triumph against the Sixers last March at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Westbrook notched 49 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists. Prior to that match-up, Larry Bird had been the only NBA player to have registered a triple-double with at least 49 points in the last 30 years.
